July, 2007

Blog - About

About I. M. Testy

Hi, my name is Bj Rollison and I am a Test Architect in the Engineering Excellence group at Microsoft. I have been at Microsoft since 1994. My primary role is designing and developing testing curriculum, and teaching SDETs at Microsoft the profession of software testing. We also do internal consulting with Microsoft business divisions, and occasionally premier customers. This is the coolest job I've ever had (at least at Microsoft) because I get to meet so many bright and exceptionally talented people everyday (both inside and outside of Microsoft) who challenge me intellectually and help me learn more about this discipline and cool new technologies. My previous roles at the company included Test Lead of the setup team for international versions of Windows 95, International Test Manager for Internet Explorer, and Director of Test Training.

When I am not at work trying to better understand the practice of software testing I spend a lot of time on my sailboat. It's true...boats need constant attention at great cost, but for me it's worth the price in the peace and serenity I find when I am sailing! Even when I just sit on the boat at dock life is good. I am also a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer and taught scuba diving for 20 years. I also enjoy skiing in the winter months, fly fishing, and trap shooting. I also play an occasional round of golf (I don't keep score I just try not to loose too many balls). And just to keep my fingers busy (I should say greasy) I recently rebuilt a '72 Corvette that doesn't require quite as much attention as the boat and at least has an automobile engine that makes sense and is easy to work on...fuel, air, compression, spark! Ahhh...the simple joys of low-tech!

When getting close to shipping a product and the team discovers a critical defect that must be fixed one of the first questions asked by the management team is, "how long will it take?" From a testing perspective they generally want to know 2 things;...

I previously blogged about quality and value , but after giving it more thought I determined that quality and value are indirectly related, but quality is not value!
I define testing as any activity designed to evaluate an attribute or capability of...

I have been taking some time these past few weeks to enjoy the weather here in Seattle relaxing aboard my sailboat, and catching up on my gardening. I am an avid organic gardener because my 5 year old daughter loves to pick the snap peas, cherry tomatoes...